Olympic dam visit
13 Nov 2014
Media release South Australia’s most senior federal Liberal MP’s are heading to Olympic Dam today to discuss BHP Billiton's current and future mining operations in South Australia.
Ministers Christopher Pyne and Jamie Briggs and Parliamentary Secretary Simon Birmingham are meeting with Olympic Dam Asset President Darryl Cuzzubbo and other senior executives during their visit.
They will undertake an underground and surface inspection of the Olympic Dam site as well as visit nearby Roxby Downs.
In September this year, the trial for leaching copper and uranium at the BHP Billiton Olympic Dam heap site was determined ‘not a controlled action’ under the Environment Protection Biodiversity Act 1999 (EPBC Act). This decision gave the green light to BHP Billiton to develop and operate a heap leach demonstration plant at the Olympic Dam mine site.
The Abbott Government appreciates that the Olympic Dam expansion has the potential to give a significant and lasting boost to the South Australian economy. While we cannot make the expansion happen we will do everything possible to remove any barriers and assist it to occur.
The Olympic Dam copper-uranium expansion in South Australia was shelved under the Rudd and Gillard Governments. This was at a time when Labor’s poor decision making, high taxes and heavy regulatory burdens were making Australia a less attractive place in which to invest.
Our Government has fulfilled its commitment to axe the carbon and mining taxes, we are implementing a one stop shop for environmental approvals and have axed more than $2 billion in red tape.
We are determined to deliver policies that maximise the potential for businesses to make positive investment decisions and look forward to discussing any issues both current and potential Olympic Dam operations have with BHP Billiton.